Kentucky gets grant to expand electronic warrant system

Attorney General Jack Conway's office has received a $3.94 million grant from the American Resource and Recovery Act to expand Kentucky's electronic warrant management system to nearly all of Kentucky's rural counties.

Only six counties currently have access to the electronic warrant system (eWarrants), which helps share information on active warrants among all law enforcement agencies in the state. Under the new system, warrants are available via the Law Enforcement Information Network of Kentucky (LINK), the system administered by Kentucky State Police and used by law enforcement to transmit and retrieve information on active warrants.

A release from Conway's office said the grant will also create about 20 new jobs.

Kentucky's eWarrants system began as a pilot project in 2005 to address a backlog of nearly 300,000 un-served warrants in the state. It is currently operating in Jefferson, Campbell, Scott, Bourbon and Woodford Counties.

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A backlog in the service of warrants, or a misplaced or lost warrant, could allow a person charged with a violent crime to continue to victimize. The eWarrants system has increased the service rates of warrants nearly six-fold in less than a year. More than 62 percent of the new warrants entered into the eWarrants system have been served, compared with about 10 percent under the old system, according to the Attorney General's office.

The grant will be used to provide County Attorney offices, which prepare the warrants, with computer network infrastructure, personnel and training on the electronic warrant system.